London Across History, Literature & Film

This course sets out to study the complex traffic between the real and the imagined London, connecting fictional and filmic representation with key moments in its political and commercial development. Using a chronological approach, the journey begins in Elizabethan London, then takes in Georgian London and Grub Street; followed by the responses of the Romantic movement to London's expansion and industrialization, and finishes with Dickens' view of a labyrinthine and grotesque London and Conan Doyle's response to the reality of the urban masses. The second half explores Modernist London, walking in the footsteps of Virginia Woolf's Mrs Dalloway, looks at writing and film during the Blitz, the changing landscape of post-colonial and multicultural London. The final week tracks London's drastic reshaping since the 1990s. Each classroom session, exploring key ideas, reading relevant texts and analyzing visual media, is followed by a study visit to the particular London location under review.